Princeton native Rory Block grew up in Manhattan. Her father, Allan Block, ran a sandal shop in Greenwich Village that became a gathering place for folk singers of the early 1960s.

Written by

Since she was a teen, Block has sought to keep alive authentic country blues as it was played in the South in the 1930s and 1940s.

But Block doesn't take a scholarly, abstract approach to the blues. That's because blues singers like Rev. Gary Davis, Son House, and Mississippi John Hurt aren't just names on album labels to her. They were her teachers. ...